Movies like City of Fear (1959)
The best movies like City of Fear (1959) are Dark Passage (1947), Figures in a Landscape (1970) and The Lineup (1958). If City of Fear hooked you with its thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPickup on South Street (1953)7.4/10 from 342 votes
- NewestTemptations of the Flesh (2025)Released 2025
Dark Passage (1947)
A man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try and prove his innocence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFigures in a Landscape (1970)
Two escaped convicts are on the run in an unnamed Latin American country. But everywhere they go, they are followed and hounded by a menacing black helicopter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lineup (1958)
In San Francisco, a psychopathic gangster and his mentor retrieve heroin packages carried by unsuspecting travelers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThey Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNightfall (1956)
An innocent man turns fugitive as he reconstructs events that implicate him for a murder and robbery he did not commit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHe Ran All the Way (1951)
A crook on the run hides out in an innocent girl's apartment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Killer Is Loose (1956)
A savings-and-loan bank is robbed; later, a police wiretap identifies meek bank teller Leon Poole as the inside man. In capturing him, detective Sam Wagner accidentally kills Poole's young wife, and at his trial Poole swears vengeance against Wagner. Poole begins his plans to get revenge when he escapes his captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCornered (1945)
A World War II veteran hunts down the Nazi collaborators who killed his wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Widow (1987)
Federal agent Alexandra Barnes believes that Catherine Petersen is a serial killer who marries rich men and then murders them for their money. But since Catherine is seemingly a master of disguise and has multiple identities, Alexandra can't prove anything with conventional detective work. With no other option, she goes undercover, pursuing the same man as Catherine, and hoping that Catherine will slip up and reveal her true identity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPickup on South Street (1953)
In New York City, an insolent pickpocket, Skip McCoy, inadvertently sets off a chain of events when he targets ex-prostitute Candy and steals her wallet. Unaware that she has been making deliveries of highly classified information to the communists, Candy, who has been trailed by FBI agents for months in hopes of nabbing the spy ringleader, is sent by her ex-boyfriend, Joey, to find Skip and retrieve the valuable microfilm he now holds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisConflict (1945)
Unhappily married Richard Mason concocts a meticulous scheme to kill his shrewish wife so that he'll be free to marry her sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhile the City Sleeps (1956)
Newspaper men compete against each other to find a serial killer dubbed "The Lipstick Killer".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSleep, My Love (1948)
A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJeopardy (1953)
A woman is kidnapped when she goes to get help for her husband who is trapped on a beach with the tide coming in to surely drown him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisD.O.A. (1949)
Frank Bigelow is about to die, and he knows it. The accountant has been poisoned and has only 24 hours before the lethal concoction kills him. Determined to find out who his murderer is, Frank, with the help of his assistant and girlfriend, Paula, begins to trace back over his last steps. As he frantically tries to unravel the mystery behind his own impending demise, his sleuthing leads him to a group of crooked businessmen and another murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Angel (1946)
A falsely convicted man's wife, Catherine, and an alcoholic composer and pianist, Martin, team up in an attempt to clear her husband of the murder of a blonde singer, who is Martin's wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHollow Triumph (1948)
Pursued by the big-time gambler he robbed, John Muller assumes a new identity—with unfortunate results.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Defiant Ones (1958)
Two convicts—one white, one black—escape while chained to each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Glass Key (1942)
A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKiss of Death (1947)
An ex-con trying to go straight must face a crazed criminal out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKiss the Girls (1997)
Forensic psychologist and detective Alex Cross travels to North Carolina and teams with escaped kidnap victim Kate McTiernan to hunt down "Casanova," a serial killer who abducts strong-willed women and forces them to submit to his demands. The trail leads to Los Angeles, where the duo discovers that the psychopath may not be working alone.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNew Jack City (1991)
A gangster, Nino, is in the Cash Money Brothers, making a million dollars every week selling crack. A cop, Scotty, discovers that the only way to infiltrate the gang is to become a dealer himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrime in Kolonaki (1960)
When the painter Nasos Karnezis is found dead and the police arrests Floras, the stockbroker Dimitris, his son from his first marriage, decides to find out who the real murderer is. Along with a tow of his friends, reporter Makris and the politician Delios research the case and they suspect Myrto, daughter of captain Kapsis who was executed by the Germans during the years of Occupation, after Karnezis had turned him in. Dimitris and Myrto, whose innocent has become clear in the meantime, fall in love with each other.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Cut Bank (2014)
25-year-old Dwayne McLaren, a former athlete turned auto mechanic, dreams of getting out of tiny Cut Bank, Montana the coldest town in America. But his effort to do so sets in motion a deadly series of events that change his life and the life of the town forever...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisFlatfoot in Hong Kong (1975)
Inspector Rizzo is accused of drug trafficking. In order to clear his name he has to find out who is the person, from a Mafia ring, who has infiltrated his police department.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWait Until Dark (1967)
After a flight back home, Sam Hendrix returns with a doll he innocently acquired along the way. As it turns out, the doll is actually stuffed with heroin, and a group of criminals led by the ruthless Roat has followed Hendrix back to his place to retrieve it. When Hendrix leaves for business, the crooks make their move -- and find his blind wife, Susy, alone in the apartment. Soon, a life-threatening game begins between Susy and the thugs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971)
Inspector Tellini investigates serial crimes where victims are paralyzed while having their bellies ripped open with a sharp knife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTemptations of the Flesh (2025)
A jilted housewife uncovers a horrifying secret about her husband when he tries her adobong puti.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
The Las Vegas Story (1952)
When newlyweds visit Las Vegas, the wife's shady past comes to the surface.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Out of the Fog (1941)
A Brooklyn pier racketeer bullies boat-owners into paying protection money but two fed-up fishermen decide to eliminate the gangster themselves rather than complain to the police.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like City of Fear and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like City of Fear?
The closest matches to City of Fear are Dark Passage (1947), Figures in a Landscape (1970) and The Lineup (1958). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after City of Fear?
Start with Dark Passage (1947), the closest match to City of Fear.
What is the highest-rated movie like City of Fear?
Pickup on South Street (1953), rated 7.4/10 by 342 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like City of Fear?
Temptations of the Flesh (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like City of Fear?
Yes: Dark Passage (1947), Figures in a Landscape (1970) and The Lineup (1958).
How are movies similar to City of Fear chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside City of Fear, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.